Correct understanding of "Caste" System

I'm saddened by the gross malpractice and insult of the "Caste System".

The Hindus have gravely mutated the natural system of Varna, so it is our fault. This misuse of a natural law by the Hindus then became a weapon by others to use against Hinduism, the British and the west used it to demean Hinduism, the missionaries to convert Hindus to Christianity. There is still this immense ignorance about the caste system both amongst the Hindus and the rest of the world.

In an earnest effort to remove this debilitating and humiliating misuse of an ancient wisdom and to restore it's dignity, I am going to quote from an authority on Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita. What follows are the verses of the Gita, along with the translation and commentary by Swami Chinmayananda.

In short: your own inborn nature, and how you express it makes you suitable for certain professions and engagements in the world. It is not that if someone is born to a Brahmin father, but has the nature of a business man, and works for the government will be defined by the Hindu scriptures as being a Brahmin. The current day Hindu society may, which is wrong. Hinduism says that ideally one should pursue the professional suitable to one's nature, so the inborn nature of the person, the natural talent of being good in business is what defines him as

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Vaishya.

Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is eternal knowledge and knew that developed societies would have 4 major divisions of labor according to the four broad categories of human nature. 1. Those who are "scholars" such as professors, scientists, religious and spiritual people, etc. 2. Those are "leaders" like those in the army, government, administration, etc. 3. Those who are "traders" 4. Those who are "workers", laborers and blue collar workers.

Please watch the brilliant summary of the Varna (wrongly translated as caste system) by Swami Chinmayananda below, the commentary on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 verse 13. In addition, I am making available a brilliant episode on the "Caste System" from the TV series, Upanishad Ganga, a creation of Chinmaya Mission:

Translation:The fourfold-caste has been created by Me according to the differentiation of GUNA an d KARMA; though I am the author thereof know Me as non-doer and immutable.

Commentary:

Link to YouTube video on Caste System by Swami Chinmayananda

This is a stanza that has been much misused in recent times by the upholders of the social crime styled as the caste system in India. Varna, meaning different shades of texture, or colour, is employed here in the Yogic-sense. In the YogaShastra, they attribute some definite colours to the triple gunas, which mean, as we have said earlier, "the mental temperaments." Thus, Sattwa is considered as white, Rajas as red, and Tamas as black. Man is essentially the thoughts that he entertains. From individual to individual, even when the thoughts are superficially the same, there are clear distinctions recognizable from their temperaments.On the basis of these temperamental distinctions, the entire mankind has been, for the purpose of spiritual study, classified into four "castes" of Varnas. Just as, in a metropolis, on the basis of trade or professions, we divide the people as doctors, advocates, professors, traders, politicians, tongawalas, etc., so too, on the basis of the different textures of thoughts entertained by the intelligent creatures, the four "castes" had been labelled in the past. From the standpoint of the State, a doctor and a tongawala are as much important as an advocate and a mechanic. So too, for the perfectly healthy life of a society, all "castes" should not be competitive but co-operative units, each being complementary to the others, never competing among themselves.However, later on, in the power politics of the early middle-ages in India, this communal feeling cropped up in its present ugliness, and in the general ignorance among the ordinary people at that time, the cheap pandits could parade their assumed knowledge by quoting, IN BITS, stanzas like this one.The decadent Hindu-Brahmin found it very convenient to quote the first quarter of the stanza, and repeat "I CREATED THE FOUR varnas," and give this tragic social vivisection a divine look having a godly sanction. They, who did this, were in fact, the greatest blasphemers that Hinduism ever had to reckon with. For Vyasa, in the very same line of the couplet, as though in the very same breath, describes the basis on which this classification was made, when he says, "BY THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE MENTAL QUALITY AND PHYSICAL ACTION (OF THE PEOPLE)."This complete definition of the Varna not only removes our present misunderstanding but also provides us with some data to understand its true significance. Not by birth is man a Brahmana (Brahmin); by cultivating good intentions and noble thoughts alone can we ever aspire to Brahmana-hood; nor can we pose as Brahmana merely because of ourexternal physical marks, or bodily actions in the outer world. The definition insists that he alone is a Brahmana, whose thoughts are as much Sattwic, as his actions are. A Kshatriya is one who is Rajasic in his thoughts and actions. A Shudra is not only one whose thoughts are Tamasic, but also he who lives a life of low endeavours, for satisfying his base animal passions and flesh-appetites. The scientific attitude in which this definition has been declared, is clear from the exhaustive implications of the statement: "ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENTIATION OF "guna" AND "karma."We had tried to explain how the Self, functioning through Its own self-forgetfulness (Maya) as it were, came to project forth temperamentally in three distinct conditions of mental and intellectual life: Unactivity, Activity and Inactivity. Through these triple channels flow the expressions of Life manifesting the different ideas, agitations and actions of the embodied-Life. None of the vagaries of existence would have been possible if the equipments were not tickled by the touch-of-Life.Krishna, as the very Source of Life, emphatically asserts here, that He is the author of it all, in the sense that the ocean could say that it is the author of all the waves, ripples, foam, bubbles, etc., and gold can assert that it is the very creator and sustainer of all gold-ornaments in the world, inasmuch as no gold-ornament can exist when the gold element is removed from it.But, at the same time the Infinite, being All-Pervading, as we have already explained, cannot participate in any action and therefore, the Lord, in one and the same breath, declares that though "HE IS THE AUTHOR OF IT," in His own Real Nature," HE IS AT THE SAME TIME A NON-DOER."Such contradictions in Vedanta become confusing to the students, as long as they are not initiated into the SECRETS OF ITS STUDY. In our conversation, we generally hear people say "that they reached their destination ten miles away by sitting in a bus;" "I caught a train and reached here." Since we understand it in our usual routine conversation, we do not try to dissect such statements to discover the contradictions they contain. Sitting you cannot travel. By catching a train, none can cover distances. And yet it is so true. When we travel in a bus or a train, we donot move; we only sit and hang on to our seats! But stillwe cover the distance because the vehicle in which we sit, moves on. In other words, the motion of the vehicle is attributed to us. Similarly, the creation of the temperaments, which should be attributed to the mind and intellect, is attributed to the Lord. In fact, the Lord, in His Essential Nature, being Changeless and All-Pervading, is neither the Doer nor the Creator.

Second reference: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 verses 41 - 44

Verses:

41. Of scholars (BRAHMANAS) , of leaders (KSHATRIYAS) and of traders (VAISHYAS) , as also of workers (SHUDRAS) , O Parantapa, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature.

42. Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation, belief-in-God --- are the duties of the BRAHMANAS, born of (their own) nature.

43. Prowess, splendour, firmness, dexterity, and also not fleeing from battle, generosity, lordliness --- these are the duties of the KSHATRIYAS, born of (their own) nature.

44. Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the VAISHYAS, born of (their own) nature; and service is the duty of the SHUDRAS, born of (their own) nature.